interstellarendeavorfandomcom-20200213-history
Human History
=GD 2000 to 2106: The Information Age= At the turn of the millennium, Earth had entered a new age. An age of access and connectivity swept over the planet, and yet, so did the threat of war. Humanity, emerging with its guard down after the end of the Cold War in the 1990’s, had no idea that it was heading toward its own destruction. The proliferation of nuclear weapons, and their availability around the globe, coupled with increased natural disasters, famines, rising sea levels, and rises in global temperature literally heated up disputes between Earth’s nation-states. Yet, the problems were concealed by a global shield of ignorance. Innovations in crude technologies only furthered this ignorance, as it consumed people’s attentions not toward world affairs, but to what happened at a party last night, or what someone ate for dinner. By the time anyone realized what was going on, it was too late. No amount of effort from neither singular nation-state, nor international organization could stop the coming storm. It need not matter who launched first, but that nuclear weapons were exchanged. In about an hour after impact, 70% of Humanity perished from the sheer weight of nuclear exchange. When 2100 became 2101, another 20% had died from residual illness directly related to the nuclear exchange. In another 5 years, a final 5% more perished from the ‘Food Wars’ – human populations battling one another for radiation free food. In total, 9.5 billion humans perished from the Nuclear War, as it came to be known, leaving only 500 million people to rebuild: approximately the population of Earth around 1500 AD. However, not all was lost. With the clever foresight of a few individuals, everything that humanity had done, was doing, or wanted to do was stored in the ‘Great Library.’ Located in Thule, Greenland, it contained Humanity’s genetic code (meant for aliens to rebuild humanity in case of a mass extinction event), frozen seed samples of necessary plant life, and the genetic codes of every Terran animal species, many of which just prior to the Nuclear War were extinct. The Great Library was Humanity’s only chance to recover what had been lost in the thoughtless decisions of several leaders, putting their national pride before the entire human race. On the tympanum over the portal to the underground complex displays a hollowing statement: Fear the intent of the thoughtless Man. It would one day become the guiding statement of humanity ascending from its own foolishness. =GD 2106 to 2200: The Global Dark Age= It is unfortunate to remark that no amount of data stored within the Great Library of Thule would be able to restore the lost lives in that single cataclysmic event. Within a single hour, everything most humans knew and understood was wiped out. What emerged from this new post-apocalyptic world was the Global Dark Age – a general collapse of civilization not seen since the Fall of Rome in 476 A.D. Where governments once stood, law devolved in small organized bands, essentially nomads, travelling around the desolate landscape, taking what they needed at the expense of anyone who resisted. These groups, known as Outriders, usually conflicted with the Settlers, or groups that founded small towns in areas with little to no radiation. A third group does emerge, but only for a short time, and they are known as the Migrants. After the decade long nuclear winter, the people left alive packed their bags and moved toward the equator in hopes of reaching better climates during the ensuing ice age. The Settlers welcomed these groups, as they provided more manpower to growing communities that needed it. The Outriders opposed the Migrants, stealing from them as they moved about. However, in the first one hundred years after the Nuclear War, the swelling Settler communities forced the Outriders to assimilate, as the last bullets and burnable gasoline were expended. Once again, however, this post-collapse tumult cost more lives – shrinking Earth’s population to a mere 200 million people worldwide. The success of the Settlers proved to be Earth’s last hope. The formation of communities and division of labor meant that humans were restarting civilization, just as it started over 12,000 years ago in Mesopotamia. As the settlements began to grow and recuperate from the previous hundred years of chaos, a strange society emerged, similar to the past, yet with flares of the society forced to rebuild after the Nuclear War. People were rediscovering proper farming and hunting equipment while they scanned the radio waves for signs of life past their horizon. People turned to religion while others scorned it, believing their God(s) had abandoned them. People, for the first time, conceived of not belonging to a nation or culture, but of the human race, and retained the scope of the world while clinging to their land, hoping that the crops wouldn’t be contaminated with radiation. It was the most important cultural thing to be passed down through the ensuing ages – humans, instead of turning in, turned out and did not forget the world they left behind. Humans were planning to never to make the same mistake again. =GD 2200 to 3500: The Colonial Age= While Humanity retained the correct philosophy in emerging out of the Nuclear War, their technology was not progressing as fast as predicted. The Great Library of Thule, designed for an immediate recovery, suffered a core systems failure that wiped out the DNA sequences of the harvest animals as well as the seed samples – only Humanity’s knowledge survived, the key elements in which civilization could still be salvaged. In this epoch of Human history, adequate agricultural advancements were made to feed an entire new class of urban dwellers. These new laborers would enrich the culture of these newly emerging cities, as well provide a stagnate middle class that could specialize in certain tasks, such as gunsmithing, metalworking, construction, and many other tasks based on the current availability of resources. The first thousand years since the Nuclear War also saw the first true governments arise, with the original governments of the rising communities were just collectivist anarchies or direct democracies with no leader to administrate, or in some cases, legislate. With the stratification of society according to economic status, leaders did arise. However, unlike Mesopotamia, many of them did not rule as monarchs or dictators mostly in part due to the passed on democratic tradition from generation to generation post-Nuclear War. This ‘democratic tradition’ breeding amongst the reemerging population of humanity would serve as the benchmark for the future of Earth, and how it would be governed once civilization had recovered. =GD 3500 to 5000: The Feudal Age= Humanity, in this post collapse world, had two choices; be guided by innovation to return to greatness or stagnate in this life their ancestors gave them. Fortunately, the burgeoning populations of Earth choose innovation over stagnation, and the first innovators, looking around them, saw what they once had, and strove to rebuild. At the end of this next thousand year period, lights began to turn back on, sewers were reactivated, and other amenities to increase the standard of living were reinvented or restored. While life was far from where it once was, it was heading in the right direction. Medical technology was almost non existent. Yet, with these setbacks, Humanity was starting to realize as goal as it became more and more interconnected with the radio. Being able to communicate with people across the world was an amazing feat, as it gave scope of what was happening in other settlements. In short, the idea of the global village was returning, even though the methods of travel were not yet there to develop it. In this period of trials, humans began to submit themselves to larger governments. In effect, a crude feudal system erupts, with democratic settlements subservient to larger democratic settlements, and so forth. Essentially, the first human states are formed, though they are no larger than a province of a modern country. Such entities took on the names of the regions they lived in, even though the previously existing infrastructure is now entirely overgrown or destroyed. With these new-found states comes war, and humanity’s time-honored perfection of it. Immediately states squabble over territorial boundaries – fighting over grazing lands for their animals of fertile lands for their crops. What became of these wars created a class of permanent soldiers, something not seen in 3000 years. This social stratum of warriors would prove useful in the coming years, as Earth would yet again be in crisis, and it would take a renewed military organization to pick up the pieces yet again. =GD 5000 to 5010: The Asteroid Crisis= Scholars, revisiting this era in history, believed humanity, in 500 years, would be at an adequate level to open up the Great Library and restore civilization to what it once was, and be better off with a greater sense of purpose for the human race, as the story of the Nuclear War is still very real for each generation. Yet, something would damn Earth yet again. It would not be a renewed nuclear cataclysm or war, but something across the gulf of space. Earth was to be visited by an interplanetary missile – an asteroid. Called the Bactrian Warhead, the six mile across rock plummeted into Central Asia, creating a massive crater between the Caspian and Aral seas, forever joining them to make the-now Bactrian Sea. However, the human populations were once again thrown into chaos. Another nuclear winter was initiated, caused by the radiation and debris released into atmosphere, ushering in another ice age. Unfortunately for humans, the world slipped back down in the Global Dark Age. Humanity was once again on the precipice. Everything that had been accomplished before was ruined. Humans had come along so far for nearly nothing. Sizeable towns fell upon themselves for supplies and entire cultures of people were uprooted, forced into nomadic lives as their ancestors had three thousand years ago. Yet, this cataclysm was different. With the widespread usage of radio, different groups of people were able communicate with one another to find habitable locations and safe areas away from the chaos of the more disorganized peoples. A sort of global network was created, which greatly reduced the casualties. Coupled with military efficiency, the human populations found themselves better off than they were. Even though they had lost nearly all the progress from the previous millennia, they had finally come together in a sort of central governance, something that would last until the discovery of the Great Library. From the charred cinders arose a new humanity, one that had better chance at survival and advancement than ever before. =GD 5010 to 8937: The Post-Impact Age= The centuries immediately after the Bactrian Warhead were some of Humanity’s most progressive steps to return to pre-Nuclear War levels. With humans now interacting via a global communication network, albeit via radio, humanity could now work progressively together over the coming centuries, rebuilding what had been lost. While communication and progress would wax and wane, it was moving forward at a rate unprecedented than the first few thousands years prior to impact. Humanity, this time, was preparing itself to open the Great Library. To the humans of this time, such an archive of human knowledge was just as legendary as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon would be to a 2lst Century man. Yet the difference was clear – the Great Library of Thule still existed, unbroken by time. Many had questioned when that vault would finally be opened. Scholars find this moment in history as one of those lackluster happenings that unlocks knowledge to greater things. In 8937, fledgling Greenlandic communities were clinging to life, finding the harshness of northern winters difficult to bear, much like how their Viking ancestors managed many years ago. It would be a group of adventurous children, led by little girl Nora Erickson, who stumbled upon the slumbering cache of information. The particularly mild winter this year, having melted record amounts of snow, revealed and ever-so small section of the front portal. While playing with her friends, more sections of the portal were revealed. Running to get the leaders of her community, they found the structure and declared it an ancient ruin, disallowing anyone to access the information inside. For now, humanity’s greatest hope was roped off. =GD 8937 to 9000: The Revival Age= It would be 15 years until the Great Library was finally cracked opened and truly examined. What the found, amongst the dusty and broken compartments, was an entire cache of human knowledge unlike anything compiled before. Languages once thought dead could be restudied and reinstated, old technologies could be restored and used, and a snapshot of human culture, history, and life from the 21st Century could be salvaged and brought back anew nearly 7000 years later in the 90th Century. Emerging scientists from all over the world flocked to the Great Library, and Thule became a center of learning for the entire world, much like Florence had become for Europe in the 15th Century. Coupled with the discovery came a cultural revolution, 21st Century ‘retro’, as it was called, was a revival of epic proportions – languages remerged, old historical cities were founded and rebuilt, and the first real nation-states since the 21st Century began to emerge. With the rise of new nation-states came a revival of old problems. Entire swathes of people seemingly inherited the political rivalries long dead for 7000 years. These states are different culturally but the goals are the same: gaining power, spreading influence, and expanding their territory. By the 8960’s, several brushfire wars erupt between several neighboring powers. These wars accomplished little, and fears of renewed nuclear war brewed. Extremists, believing Earth was doomed to repeat the past, embarked on terror sprees to hit targets believed to be directly related to planetary mass extinction. Even the scientists at Thule, slowly decoding the millions of Rosetta discs, began to suggest sealing up the Great Library and preparing for the worst. In reality, no state had possession of any nuclear arms, as nuclear chemistry was still in the decoding phase. The threat of global war was a ruse – perpetuated by an emergent secret society known as Invictus. Invictus, meaning ‘unconquerable’ in Latin, was a society of psychologists, military veterans, and politicians that wished to see the human race politically united as to end any possibility of further mass extinction events from occurring. Using the threat of violence, they were paving the way for a supreme leader to emerge – handpicked by Invictus. This man was Klaus von Hammersmark, the dictator of Helvetia: a central European nation-state roughly the size of the ancient Holy Roman Empire of AD 800. While not formally apart of any Invictus lodge, Hammersmark was a staunch believer in human unification at any cost. His orders were simple; preach acquiring peace in this time by flocking to his banner, and presenting that being under him is humanity’s only option for continued existence. At first, the process seemed to be working. Several nation-states sacrificed their sovereignty and surrendered it to Helvetia. It would not take long before Europe, parts of Russia, Africa, and the Middle East submitted to his heel. In honor of his accomplishments, Helvetia was renamed, simply, to Terra Prime, affirming the status that Hammersmark controlled the first world government on Earth ever to exist. However, without being a member of Invictus, Hammersmark could not really be controlled. By 9000, he was beginning to have aspirations of further world domination. This domination, however, was aimed at not acquiring new territory but by at ‘standardizing’ his subjects. In a speech delivered at Thule, Hammersmark declared that Terra Prime would be governed by “one language, one culture, and one race.” Invictus, unsure as to what he was implying by this, immediately established a spy network within Hammersmark’s inner circle. They found startling evidence of human atrocities – artificially generated famines to wipe out undesired cultures, genocide of rebellious populations, concentration camps for political dissidents, and ‘Terranization’ programs – aimed at forcibly encouraging schools to teach Latin; in reverence to the very ancient Roman Empire he loved reading about. At this point, Hammersmark was completely out of Invictus’ control. He was contradicting everything they were working for, and it would be impossible to mend this new situation. Invictus had no choice – Hammersmark must be removed and Terra Prime burnt to the ground; their only memory being the ashes they leave behind. =GD 9000 to 9014: The Human Civil War= This unfortunate epoch of human history, colloquially known as the Human Civil War, in short, was a conflict waged against the hegemonic Terra Prime by the forces of the Independent States Allied Forces, or ISAF, with intelligence provided by Invictus with their spy network within Hammersmark's inner circle. The war plan seemed simple - avoid direct confrontation with the Terra Prime infantry and funnel their armed forces into a single trap to wipe them out completely or at least force a general surrender of 4 of the 5 army groups expected to make landfall around the "unconquered" regions of Earth. Stripped of their military, ISAF could make a drive for Hammersmark's government and force an unconditional surrender. All of this would be possible with Invictus' contacts within the Terra Prime high command, able to force the hand of generals to move on less than desirable locations. It was intended to be the shortest war in history, and the remaining states of the Earth easily bought into it, unable to learn from the lessons from the previous wars of Antiquity. Yet, even before the ink was dry on the ISAF Treaty and their forces deployed, Hammersmark caught wind spies in his inner circle through his own police networks, and silently executed the traitors. Before Invictus was able to warn the signatories of ISAF of the trickery, war was already declared and requests for the next step were sent to the leaders of Invictus. They would have to legitimately defeat Terra Prime now. Initially, Terra Prime was not prepared for the conflict, as 75% of their professional forces were stationed in reserve and the rest in police action for the dictator's 'Terranization' programs. Thus, ISAF was able to seize several strategic ports and cities out from under Hammersmark's nose. Seizing the rebuilt Suez canal, the Pacific and Mediterranean Terran fleets were cut off, buying ISAF valuable time to scramble for war materials and dig into their new positions, hoping to be able to hold on long enough while new regiments were trained back at home. These city-fortresses, New Babylon, Cairo, Carthage, and Constantinople, would ring down in history as some of highest-cost objectives in any war to date in human history. Millions of soldiers pitted against one another, uncaring for innocents that get in the way, or just for the sake of killing them. The efforts to retake these unfortunate cities, especially the hardest hit - New Babylon, would take nearly two years, and all of it would be worth no more than dead soldiers and exchanged bullets. Entire battlefields became makeshift graveyards, many scattered amongst already dug graves - craters left behind after shell hundreds of shell impacts all around the front. Both sides were decimated. Millions of lives lost. The Terran Army was forced to dig in, and the ISAF forces reciprocated, building emplacements and fortifications along the new front, stretching from the Mediterranean coastline and into Central Asia, just stopping short at the Bactrian Sea. For the next 12 years, brutal trench warfare ensued. The death rate slowly climbed, reaching 500 million deaths at the close of the war. At nearly the beginning of thirteenth year, morale finally broke amongst the ISAF forces, leading to mass desertion up and down the front. As the Terran Prime soldiers, emerging after another long tour of battle, began to storm the enemy fortifications, a miracle happened for the seemingly defeated ISAF - Klaus von Hammersmark died unexpectedly of a stroke. With no clear successor, Terra Prime fell upon itself in civil war. Rogue generals tried to make for the capital, but in doing so several nations under the yoke of Terra Prime revolted and cast down their oppressors, killing any remaining occupying garrison. Invictus, at a terrible cost, had finally won. Raising a new army, promising them all land grants in Helvetia proper, and laying the ground work for the future Federal Marine Corps, marched into Terra Prime's homeland, rounded up the remaining government, and declared victory. Unfortunately for Invictus, victory came at a grave cost. Half a billion souls were dispatched from Earth, and many one fertile lands were decimated, those regions damned to economic setbacks for the next 85 years. Yet, with Terra Prime destroyed, Invictus could now move on in a renewed vigor to political unite mankind under one flag. They would do just that. =GD 9015: Republic= Earth was in ashes. The signatories of ISAF were victorious, but at the cost of many lives and economic setback likely to plague them for years to come. While Thule suffered very little in terms of the war, many states turned inwards, and cut global funding for the translation of the Rosetta discs over fixing their economies. Yet, after all of this, the direction and leadership lost by the conquest of Terra Prime left a great void in international affairs. No single state had the capacity nor the resources to propagate another viable world government. Invictus, seeing their efforts withering into nothing, convened a council of nation-states vicariously through one of the victorious ISAF powers. Sitting down at the table, they discussed the future of Earth. Terra Prime was a hallowing example of how humanity could indeed destroy itself again. The Chairman, Nicholas Bekenstein, made a damning speech - if humanity continues to remain divide, the cycle of rebirth and cataclysm would stagger on. "We cannot build enough Great Libraries to save the human race from one day dying," Chairman Bekenstein was quoted as saying. A radical notion was presented. All of the nations of the Earth should pool their collective sovereignty and submit to a global federal system. The initial reaction was outrage, but after months of frustrating argument, a point of fact was made. The Human Civil War had brought humanity together in all ways except government. What could possible be wrong with taking that last final step? Many were apprehensive, but many more agreed. When the decision was finally put to vote, the Earth stood still for just a moment. The fate of humanity stood in the balance. The entire world rejoiced after the news was heard - the motion at passed. The Terran Federal Republic was born. The nations of the world, including the occupied Helvetia, were given ten years to integrate their governments into the Republic, however, many nations immediately set up their governments to be pro-Republic, as to ease their transition into world government when the deadline was up. Invictus had finally won. =GD 9015 to 9100: The Recovery Age= With the birth of the Terran Federal Republic, birthed also was a monster bureaucratic engine that could effectively deal with Earth's global problems - something that the individual nations could not do on their own. Arising issues in global affairs were renewed industrialization, economic downturn because of the War, and addressing human rights all around Earth were just some of the predominant issues the first President and Parliament had to face. With the human population almost at pre-Nuclear War levels, the question of famine and water shortages almost plagued the billions of civilians around the globe. This was something that the Republic immediately responded to, and constructed desalinization plants around the globe to convert ocean water into drinkable water on human standards. While the ecological damage from the larger salt deposits hurt local farming, billions of humans could have irrigated farms and drink clean, filtered water. Public popularity immediately rose up 10% for the Republic after this, encouraging politicians to strive for the betterment of humanity over their own personal gains. With a renewed sense of purpose, humanity slowly began to rebuild from the devastation of the Civil War and the previous seven thousand years of dark ages. With the Great Library unsealed and things returning to normal, scholars pronounce this as the end of the Global Dark Age and beginning of the Human Renaissance - a time where humans would pick up where the 21st Century left off, and move beyond what humans could have ever imagined beyond that time. Humanity, now as a fully functioning, proactive unit, had the galaxy within their grasp. With the Republic's addressing of several of the key issues, trust rose in the government and thus in the economy, and it rebounded in a short decade. Global GDP skyrocketed, and for the first time, several scientists around Earth reportedly were working on new inventions, pushing beyond the boundaries their ancestors had previously set for them. =GD 9100 to 9200: The Human Renaissance= With Humanity's fully attention on the Great Library and it's secrets, a technological revolution began to take place on the scale humans had never seen before. With the network of old technologies recreated and implemented into society, a whole new breed researchers began to experiments with things once thought impossible, and made them possible. It started small, with aesthetic advances such as digital paper and holographics, but it quickly moved into diamond processor computers, advanced space flight, widespread alternative and fusion energies, talking dogs, destructive uploading, and many other things inconceivable by the members of the extinct 21st Century. Clearly, the 92nd Century was a new dawn for human ingenuity, as leaps and bounds were made in all scientific fields, bettering lives all over the globe. Even the Republic embraced the technology, allowing Congressmen to attend debates and hearings vicariously through holograms or the emerging Neural Network system. Yet, through all the cultural and technological revolutions, nothing was more prudent then the return to The Moon. This was the crowning achievement of the century, with humans once again returning to Earth's satellite, this time planting the flag of the Republic. The American flag was no where to be seen, and one of the astronauts, James Bradley, claimed to have found the same exact hole the staff was planted in. He remarked, "let the secular politics of man no longer divide us, but unite us to settle the stars and spread the dream of humanity to the Great Beyond." While the notion of finding the exact location of the flagpole hole is near impossible, Bradley's speech reverberated throughout the hearts and minds of all Earthers - the stars where were the human race belonged. One the last day of 9200, the Republic declared the first self-sufficient base established on the Moon. The Moon would quickly become a hub of interplanetary commerce and exploration, as ores from the Asteroid Belt could be mined and returned for processing to make more vessels. As the Mars Direct program entered human focus - the first human was born on the Moon. Her name, ironically, was Luna. =GD 9200 to 9300: The Martian Era= Mars Direct, the cheap and efficient plan pulled from the Great Library to colonize Mars, was implemented as Earth's first primitive space elevators pierced the atmosphere. The plan was simple, go to Mars with what you needed to get there, and use the native materials to get back home. The TRS Zubrin, in honor of the 21st Century astronomer Dr. Robert Zubrin (the lead researcher on Mars Direct), was launched from Moonbase-1 on GD 9210, taking the first astronauts to explore the Martian surface. In the first of several missions to Mars, humanity would discover water ice, prebiota such as bacteria and amoebae, and indents from once flowing rivers - confirming that Mars once was a lush planet. This unfortunate news inspired the Republic's constituents to push for terraformation of the Red Planet, and it subsequent settlement. The first self-sufficient "Marsbase" Zubrin would eventually come to serve as the planetary capital in the coming centuries. While the solar mirrors and oxygen-releasing factories gave Mars life, other astronauts continually pushed away from Sol. Before the century was out, permanently manned self-sufficient bases existed on the dwarf planet Ceres, on the moons of Jupiter, and on Titan orbiting Saturn. These endeavors proved that humanity was cunning enough to stretch out the stars, but it also proved that faster transportation was necessary if Man ever wanted to push Saturn or even to other stars. To remedy this in the short term, antimatter factories were established in orbitals around Jupiter, and antimatter drives install in all military and most civilian craft. However, even this was not enough, as more and more humans clamored to spread beyond Sol, and wanted to do so in their own lifetimes. Many attribute the discovery of exotic matter to Humanity's fast-paced lifestyle, as the first supraluminal engine was created, called the Alcubierre metric in honor of Dr. Miguel Alcubierre, the original designer during the 21st Century. It would take many years to perfect it, but the first FTL method of transport to leave Sol was now in the hands of humanity. At the start of the 94th Century, the first FTL Relay station was built outside of the Oort Cloud - establishing a permanent base marking end of the Solar system where FTL could be activated and used. =GD 9300 to 9600: The Biotech Revolution= While Man explored the stars, scientists and researchers back on Earth began building on the 21st Century sequencing of the Human genome. Researchers wanted to build on that and began attempts to look at genetic nucleotides to identify specific human phenotypes. By 9400, scientists had identified 75% of all human phenotypes, including things as bone density, intelligence, and size. These discoveries lead to a classification of several genotypes, such as genetic diseases, deformities, and mental disabilities. At the time, cancer was still one of humanity's worst afflictions, with several scientists believing genetic cancer was a sort of "time bomb" deciding when a specific patient's life was meant to end. In a global effort, the scientific fields came together to eradicate genetic diseases. While successful, they had no idea on what they were heading into - a biotechnological revolution of epic proportions. Humans, in the next three hundred years, would become masters of their own biology at an incredibly basic level. Slowly, but surely, the older generation of genetically afflicted people died out. They would be succeeded by a new generation of people who are genetically screened at birth for any defects, who live longer lives, and who live in a society that becomes dominated by "genetically looking good." Society changed on an instant, as the possibilities of genetic modification became very real. Scientists began to quickly discover ways of altering human DNA not just to cure genetic disorders but to change the human form altogether. Humans could request to give birth to babies that are intelligent, beautiful and hyper-athletic, while other humans could choose to want to live on the sea floor, or live in a zero gravity environment with no medical side effects. The sky was the limit, and for many years, went unchecked. It would take many years of slogging through the courts to get genetic modification regulated, as many humans had been baited into "splicing" their genetic code with things incompatible with the human genome, and turning them into "genetic garbage" and institutionalized for gene therapy. For many years, the Republic attempted to even ban the science altogether, yet just like Prohibition, people would still give the latest modifications. The ban only last three years. The most important side effect of the Biotech Revolution was that it instantly stratified based on physical wealth. what historians saw was genetic modification being used on an upward scale: the rich had access to the better modifications while the poor either had no modifications, or very little ones. The wealthy, then, began to look better, live longer lives, and fare off better in society. The divide between rich and poor widened greater than it ever had before. It also was a time of injustice, as humans that had altered the very point of what it meant to be human, as in splicing with fish to live underwater, they came under attack by baseline human groups. While the Republic recognized all humans as equal under the law, questions did arise on the question of what a human actually was. In effect, the Republic constitution was in jeopardy, as now Earth would need to define citizenship in a more open way than just 'humanity' as President Bekenstein and his Invictus backers wrote in the document hundreds of years ago. =GD 9600 to 9863: Precipice= While the human colonies of Samarkand and Orion's Jewel were slowly building, Earth was in duress. The Biotech Revolution eventually died out, but in it's wake was social upheaval on a grand scale. The Republic faced innumerable amounts of protesters battling for many causes. Issues such as "Human" Rights, "Tweak" Rights, and equal opportunity of employment as the wealthy began monopolizing the job market because of their enhanced genetic abilities. The Republic for the longest time was considered a monolith of human achievement, incorruptible in anything it did. With a proliferation of political activism came an increase in government transparency, an original idea within the World Constitution, that had blurred in recent years. While much of the information fed to the public was skewed, it did not matter. Citizens all over the Republic were enraged that laws did not effectively protect middle class Tweaks, only the wealthy ones. Even the sovereignty of the Republic was put into question, as regions under Republic rule attempted to break away. While such meager rebellions were put down at no human expense, the point had been made, humans would not stand for the social injustices laid down upon them. To further the strain, several terrorist groups arose during this period, staking their claim that the Republic must change or it should be removed and a new government drawn up. While most groups dissolved after the contributing generation aged, only one group was able to achieve any moderate success. Known as The Royal Society, they were backed up by their network of legitimate businesses and private contributions. Their goal was simple, replace the Republic with an autocracy chaired by a leviathan. It echoed many ideas of the extinct Terra Prime fascist regime. Originally, the organization made public displays of their discontent by encouraging pro-baseline riots with their paramilitary squads, but after several bloody encounters with Federal Marines, the Royal Society had to backpedal and remain a covert agency that sponsors or conducts anti-Republic terrorism. Even at present they pose a threat to Republic power as they have broken down into independent units - if one base falls, the rest of the organization remains intact with minimal losses. It would take a redefinition of the meaning of being human, the creation of a social injustice law and the organizations to uphold it, and billions of credits in restitutions before the riots finally quieted and people returned to their homes in victory. Never before had the Republic been changed by pure popular resistance. It was a hallowing reminder that the principles in which federal system were established - leaving the power to change policy in the hands of the grassroots public. In history, governments often acted in such a manner that oppressed the public to obey, but with an educated intelligent populace, that could no longer be the case. Things had to change, and the Republic did so. By caving to the people's demands, popularity soared, terrorism declined, and the economic situation became a level playing field. It is a lesson many governments could not learn - appeasing your citizenry is far more rewarding and effective that oppressing it and forcing it to obey. Henceforth, the Republic would rebuild, explore, and expand in a way it never had before. Soon, one of humanity's most nagging question would be answered. =GD 9863 to 9903: Pax Republica= After the discovery of Samarkand and it's habitable biosphere, frenzied scientists for hundreds of years scanned fruitless to find over habitable planets for human settlement. Yet, on a fateful day in May, scientists observed the transit of a superearth, three times as large as Earth, across a large yellow star, distorting the star's luminosity ever so slightly to reveal it's location. When it passed, telescopes in Earth orbit were able to identify atmospheric compounds. The planet, at a distance, appeared to have a nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere with large traces of water vapor - revealing that the planet was likely mostly water. Immediately, the Department of Colonial Affairs mobilized an Exploration Fleet to investigate the planet and grade it if it is suitable for human populations. What the found would be the finest discovery in the entirety of human history. The planet they discovered was Thanen, the homeworld and capital of the Ataliax Empire. Being primarily aquatic, humans at first found it difficult to connect with the Atalia. Naturally the sentiments were stronger on the homefront, and citizens all over the Republic expressed their fear of meeting a new alien species. Many saw them as unclean or dangerous, and opted to use humanity's believed superior position, since they contacted them, to destroy them. Such outbursts were hidden from view as to not provoke any unnecessary hostilities, and it was assumed that the sentiments were the same for their Empire. After nearly a month of deliberation, the Republic was finally able to construct a translator for both species to effectively converse. When this was revealed to humanity, public opinion immediately switched pro-ET, and most Republic citizens opted to further contact with the Atalia. People wanted to learn more about them, and even meet them in person. It would be this curious drive that would serve humanity much better than then negative, pro-Human sentiment that still exists to this day. Over the course of several months, the Republic effectively negotiated terms of co-existence and economic benefit - something that human politicians never thought to be possible. A growing relationship emerged, cautious at first, but a relationship none the less. Trade slowly trickled from Empire to Republic and vice-versa, creating a sort of interstellar culture of human-alien interaction. Humans immediately wanted to discover more alien races as this sort of interaction was what most humans dreamed about. Exploration and discovery satisfies something within the human psyche that no researcher or scientist can come to understand. Humans have an insatiable desire to explore and settle, which most species cannot compare. Nevertheless, it was a time of prosperity for the Republic. An economic demand, both the Ataliax and humankind, existed for each other's goods. This demand created an interstellar economy that tied both polities together, and would prove to be political useful during the formation of the Galactic Union. However, something difficult for humans to understand is while they are looking for worlds to settle, so are other species. Orion's Jewel, by now completely terraformed and undergoing massive urban development, would be the planet that the Koboln Syndicate would stumble upon while doing their own scans for planetary exploration. Interestingly enough, the Republic and the Ataliax were performing joint military exercises when the Koboln arrived. When the first contact began, the Koboln were approached not by an individual species, but by an already forming interstellar community. This was groundbreaking for a first contact, as it gave the Koboln more comfortable with their discovery as they effectively were joining a very welcoming collection of species. Koboln diplomats, later on during the negotiations, even asked if treaties existed between the humans the that Ataliax - in which they were promptly included. With the addition of a third species, the Milky Way began to seem a little more close knit than ever before. A completely peaceful tripartite economic agreement, even though humans were wary of Koboln underhandedness, grew into a stable working relationship over the coming years, bring the Republic, the Empire, and the Syndicate close together politically. It would be this arrangement and the discovery of an ancient ship that would spark the formation of the Galactic Union. Koboln miners, stumbling upon a mineral rich system, discovered a partially constructed vessel deep within the unclaimed system. Immediately reporting it to their other two partners, a cross-species science team was formed to investigate the ship. After months of research, it was concluded the ship belonged to a previous alien civilization now extinct, but with no indication of what they were or what they were called. Regardless, a flurry of public political activity brought the civilizations together at a discussion table - taking their agreements to the next level, and forming a union between their empires. This union, known as the Galactic Union to all three powers, would focus on setting unbiased interstellar policy for all three polities, but also keeping the contributing civilizations sovereign and intact in their own spheres. This union would be ruled by a Council, compromised of one representative chosen by each species. After going through rigorous psychological tests, the new Councilors would serve life terms aboard The Freedom - the discovered ship rebuilt by emerging human nanotechnology. It would be a new age for interstellar civilization. Not only was the Republic reponsible to it's own people, but it was responsible for the cosmos. Many humans do not see the enormity of this task, but eagerly take it on anyway. At the beginning of the 100th Century, GD 9900, the Republic's easy streak of prosperity and interstellar political bliss would come to an end. Dr. Miranda Chakawas, a prominent bioengineer, was entered in a government contract with the Republic to find a way to alter Link 204, or the testosterone production genetic cue within the human body. While successful, she took the research a step further, and actually tested the modification on military patients. The result was catastrophic. The patients, within 1 to 7 days, showed symptoms of mental regression. By two weeks, the patients had lost all sense of consciousness, and have essentially devolved into hyper-aggressive animals. Even worse, the modification was communicable, passing by physical contact with the patient's fluids. Initially, the outbreak was contained to only the facility, but within six months, the planetary government of Mars had evacuated off of the surface into orbit and into the company of the First Fleet - tasked to blockade the planet, stopping all traffic going in and blowing any "Reavers" out of the sky. While destroying the partially terraformed surface of Mars would be the easier path, the Republic wishes to keep Mars, but was unable to present any solutions to recapture it. To this day, Mars is still overrun by the Reavers. Category:Other Category:Humans